One Day Too Late
by Anna-Cate
Summary: Ash is late. He was supposed to come back in One year. That was yesterday. Mary-Lynette is not pleased.   One-Shot.


**A/N: This is my first Night World fic, and I have like, **_**no**_** practise doing them, but I do hope it's all right. I just love Mary-Lynette and Ash so much that I HAD to do a fic for them! **

**Ummm, I normally do 1****st**** person writing, and this is in 3****rd**** person, so if I talk in 1****st**** person anywhere in this fic, I'm sorry, it was a mistake. I have tried to take out any mistakes, but a few will always slip through, so I apologise in advance for those. **

**Anywho, let me know what you think at the end, and I suppose there's nothing more to say than... ENJOY! :D**

One Day Too Late

Mary-Lynette was getting impatient. He was only supposed to be gone for a year. One year. No longer. Not _one_ more day.

Mary-Lynette had found herself counting down the days since he had left her, and now her wall had 366 strikes on it. She was not happy.

She would have never sent him away if she had realised how terrible his absence would make her feel. She had been pining after him since he had walked away. Every day getting worse as she felt her little silver cord being stretched progressively tighter as Ash moved further and further away from her.

Some days she thought he had travelled so far that it may spontaneously snap, and leave her with no way of tracing him. But it hasn't. Not yet anyway. Every now and then, just to reassure herself that the cord was still intact, and the Ash was still there on the other end, Mary-Lynette would locate the cord and give it a sharp tug. Ash's presence would shoot back, and Mary-Lynette would know he was still attached, still safe, still _alive_.

She sighed and continued to haul her telescope into the back of her truck. There was one thing Mary-Lynette would not do, and that was sit around moping, waiting for him to come back. Oh no, there was no way she was going act like some sort of damsel in distress, waiting for him to come back and save her from her depression. If he didn't want to come back and be with her, then she wasn't going to bother caring about him returning anymore. And when he did return, under no circumstances was she going to let on that she had missed him, had wanted him to come running back as soon as he had left in the car with Quinn, that she had not really had an ounce of fun since he ran off.

Oh no. There was no way Ash would find out just how much Mary-Lynette had learnt that she relied on him.

She jumped in the cab, and drove off into the setting sun, hoping to get her telescope up to her favourite hill before the natural light left completely. She pulled her keys out and let the car coast to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Jumping out she ran to the back of the truck and dragged out everything she could carry.

'That looks a bit heavy.' A voice behind her commented, to which she scowled.

'I am perfectly capable of carrying it' she snapped, annoyed at such a sexist comment.

'So I shouldn't offer to carry it?' the voice asked. Mary-Lynette ignored it. She was pretty sure she was going crazy. The voices in her head were beginning to sound more and more like Ash with each passing day.

'It's getting a bit dark. You're cutting it a bit fine if you want to get all that stuff up the hill before the sun sets, aren't you?' the annoying voice continued asking her questions. Mary-Lynette was going to have to KO her own subconscious if it kept up its persistent nattering. 'You sure you don't want a hand?'

Grumbling Mary-Lynette began tramping up the hill, carry far more than she could carry. The things at the top of her pile were balancing precariously, and looked in danger of toppling off at any moment.

Mary-Lynette kept walking up the hill, completely unaware that her possessions were falling from her pile, as they made no sound hitting the floor: because they never did make it to the ground. Every time a quick white hand shot out to catch the items before they could smash to the floor.

Mary-Lynette let out a huge breath as she finally reached the top of her hill, and unceremoniously dropped her stuff onto the ground, before wiping the perspiration from her brow. She bent down and picked up her camping chair, and opened it up. Before sitting down she dug in her rucksack for her water bottle and upon retrieving it, opened her arms wide and fell back into her chair.

'Ughhh. 'Mary-Lynette froze. Her chair had just grumbled and it was ... _breathing_. Mary-Lynette leapt up from her seat, screaming like a banshee, and started whacking whoever was in her seat with her metal water bottle.

'Ahh. Ow. Oo. uff.' Whoever the stalker was he didn't half complain a lot. 'Mary-Lynette, would you stop assaulting me?' a voice grumbled from somewhere beneath the telescope stand that Mary-Lynette had upgraded to. 'I thought you'd be happy to see me. Although I can't actually remember a time when I have ever thought correctly where you're concerned.'

'ASH! Mary-Lynette yelled, chucking the stand behind her, and leaping toward the blonde haired boy, who was the only person she knew that could sprawl so unconcerned across his chair, and look absolutely terrified at the same time. But all Mary-Lynette did was throw herself into his lap and cling to him in a firm hug.

'One second, M'Lin' Ash said, tugging her arms from around his neck, standing up and depositing her on the ground before appearing suddenly about 10 meters away. Mary-Lynette was a little confused and hurt. _Did he not want to hug her? _

Ash seemed oblivious to Mary-Lynette's emotions and exclaimed happily. 'I'm gonna be honest, that little' Ash motioned at the camping chair with his hand, seemingly unable to sum up what had happened there 'wasn't exactly what I had been planning our reunion to be like in my head.'

'And what exactly did you have in mind?' Mary-Lynette asked, humoured at his antics despite herself.

'Well' he started with a pompous air, 'I have been doing my research-'

'Research?' Mary-Lynette interrupted, perplexed.

'Yeah, watching films and stuff' Ash said, waving away her questions like it was an annoying fly, 'and I think I now understand how _humans_ meet with their soul mates, after a really long time apart.' Ash smiled broadly at Mary-Lynette, making her stomach flip wildly. _How long had she waited to see that smile, and now when I finally had the chance to get much better acquainted with that mouth, he was standing what felt like the length of the earth away from her. _

'Are you ready?' Ash asked, bouncing up and down like a child preparing to dive bomb into the swimming pool; the anticipation often better than the event itself.

'Yes' Mary-Lynette called back, humouring him. He really was like a big child.

'Okay, go!' Ash called, and began making exaggerated running motions, while moving practically nowhere. Mary-Lynette stared at him, a little perplexed. And then she finally worked out what he was doing: slow motion running, just like they did in all the cheesy human movies that Mary-Lynette made a point of staying away from.

It took so long for Ash to reach her that Mary-Lynette had enough to time to rediscover her anger at him being late. Ash spread his arms wide as he finally came into reaching distance of her, obviously expecting her to leap into his and declare their love for one another.

'Ow!' Ash yelped, hopping backward and clinging to his shin that Mary-Lynette had just kicked. 'We're still making a habit of that are we?' he grumbled, knowing that Mary-Lynette would offer him neither sympathy nor remorse.

'I thought we could rein act earlier moments in our relationship to celebrate your homecoming. Much more 'romantic'.' Mary-Lynette grinned. Ash however was not paying her the slightest bit of attention and was instead revelling in the happy thought that M'Lin actually considered them in a 'relationship.'

'What are you smiling about?' Mary-Lynette asked Ash, a little worried by his grin.

'You.' He said, pulling her in for a hug, and kissing her on the forehead. 'Mary-Lynette was happy at the little bit of lip action her was offering, but was waiting impatiently for the rest of it.

'Wow. You_ are_ getting all soppy on me' Mary-Lynette laughed, poking him in the chest as he let his mouth hang open, offended. 'Aww. Don't worry. It's sweet.' Ash scoffed at this. 'What's wrong with sweet?' she asked perplexed.

'It's not very macho is it?' he whined.

'I like sweet.'

'Me too' Ash agreed quickly, making Mary-Lynette laugh. 'I just have one more thing I want to do' he said, swinging her legs up so he was carrying her bridal style, and dropped himself into the camping chair so that Mary-Lynette was sitting across his lap, her head tucked under his chin. 'Watch a sunset.'

'I wonder where you got this idea from.' Mary-Lynette teased. She could have sworn she saw his cheeks tinge just a little pink. 'So, I'm curious.' Mary-Lynette began, and Ash gave her a worried look. 'What kind of stuff is in _vampire_ movies?'

Ash froze. 'You don't want to know.' He answered in an end of conversation tone. Mary-Lynette had never given up that easy in her life.

'Does that mean you won't let me watch one?' She asked in her most innocent voice.

'Most definitely.' Ash answered in a clipped tone.

'Aww, _damn_.' Mary-Lynette answered with mock disappointment, but it was all worth it when Ash reacted exactly the way she had intended him to.

'I can show you _my_ kind of romance.' He offered.

'Finally' Mary-Lynette murmured, leaning in towards his lips.

As soon as Mary-Lynette's lips grazed Ash's there was an explosion, and she found herself extremely happy to be sitting in his lap where she was safe from falling onto the floor, and the weight of the kiss sent their two minds crashing together in a long awaited connection.

Ash pushed images at Mary-Lynette; pictures from his time away from her, how he had helped any humans who had needed it, and had corrected all the wrongs that he had created, right. Mary-Lynette felt a surge of remorse crash through the connection as Ash thought of all the people he couldn't put right, the ones who were no longer around to be fixed. The amount of guilt Ash was sending through the connection nearly crushed her, but Mary-Lynette was glad Ash was experiencing such a human emotion, and showed her just how much sending him away had done for him as a person. It almost made up for all the time he had had to spend away from her. She didn't think she would be able to cope if he ever left her again.

Mary-Lynette began to back away from Ash's mind, partly because she was aware that he was in an overly emotional state right now, but because she didn't think that her mind could deal with the amount of grief a vampire could hold.

She fell back into the kiss, wrapping her hands up into Ash's soft blonde hair, where she just kept running her hands through it, for no more reason than the fact that she _could_. Ash caught the bottom of Mary-Lynette's ponytail in between his long fingers and tugged it gently so that her head fell backwards, allowing him better access to her mouth. His tongue traced Mary-Lynette's lower lip, before darting inside.

Mary-Lynette couldn't help but again wonder at how good Ash was at this, as she literally swooned in his arms. She moved her hands down from his silken hair, to rest against his chest.

Ash removed his lips from Mary-Lynette's and began trailing kisses up and down her neck, making her moan out loud. He returned his lips to hers, and she could feel his lips curving into a smirk beneath her lips. She pushed against Ash's firm chest, and although it would feel like a fly landing on him, he reacted as she knew he would.

Mary-Lynette and Ash broke apart far too early for either's liking, both sucking in hard, deep breaths, even though it was only necessary for one of them.

'Wow.' Ash breathed, as both minds finally meshed themselves apart and disappeared back into their own private spaces. The silver cord connecting the young couple was throbbing happily, thrilled at the long awaited meeting of the two souls.

'Yeah. Wow.' Mary-Lynette breathed into Ash's chest, just as the sun dipped down behind the valley, and the stars above them lit up the night sky.

After a peaceful few minutes Mary-Lynette's temper fired up once again. 'You were late' she accused, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Ash could hear her heart rate pick up and hastily reassured her before she really blew up.

'I just had one more thing to attend to.' He said mysteriously. 'And besides, I had a feeling that you wouldn't be missing me that much. Probably enjoying the best year of your life' he said slyly, looking at Mary-Lynette from the corner of his eye, knowing that she would have been doing a good job of delusioning herself into believing she didn't care about him.

Mary-Lynette chuckled, willing to accept that she had been caught out. Ash was her soul mate: he knew everything about her, perhaps more than she did herself.

Mary-Lynette tucked herself even further into Ash's surprisingly warm body, and for the first time since he had left, she did not feel the need to put up her telescope and study the night sky, because they were no longer apart, and the sky they were looking at was exactly the same. _Well _Mary-Lynette conceded, _maybe not exactly the same,_ she sighed jealously, thinking back to when she had discovered Ash's super dilated pupils.

'I hate you' she prodded Ash in the chest, and felt his answering chuckle rumble through his chest, making her vibrate slightly. Ash must have mistaken it for shivering because he reached into his rucksack and pulled out an _Oxford university _sweatshirt_, _that he insisted Mary-Lynette put on right away.

'Did you know there's this disease called 'hypothermia' that can kill humans?' Ash asked Mary-Lynette seriously, and she had to work extremely hard not to laugh out loud.

'I did _actually_ know that.'

Ash must have heard the laughter Mary-Lynette's voice because he looked down at her with extremely sober eyes. 'It's not funny Mary-Lynette. Do you know how many things out there can kill or harm humans? Lots.' He said, answering his own question, and looking a little green.

'Oh God. You're not going to go all protective on me are you?' Mary-Lynette asked, trying to lighten the suddenly serious mood. Ash just gave her an apologetic smile, as if to say 'too late'.

'You went all the way to England?' Mary-Lynette asked Ash, looking down at her new sweatshirt, in an attempt to change the subject, but also genuinely interested.

'Mhmm.' He answered. 'There are people over there too, you know?'

'I've realised.' Mary-Lynette snapped.

Ash saw right through her suddenly bad mood. _Jealousy_; Mary-Lynette hated living in such a small town; she wanted to travel around the world. 'I'll take you over there some time. Show you around.' Mary-Lynette beamed at him.

'Really?' She asked excitedly.

'Sure. I can show you where I stayed when I studied there.' Ash promised, pointing down at the sweatshirt.

'You studied at _Oxford_? How in the world did you manage that?' Mary-Lynette questioned him, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

'Ash feigned hurt, lifting a hand to his heart. 'I'm offended. What makes you think I couldn't have gotten in on my own credit?' Mary-Lynette did not even bother to answer that question. Ash hadn't attended school a day on his life.

'Vampire, remember?' Ash said, making his eyes go all googly. _Oh. _Mary-Lynette thought. _Compulsion. '_Where did you say you wanted to go?' Ash teased. 'I can have it arranged.' He laughed.

'But you will actually have to do some work when your there, you know? It's not all parties like in the movies. They still only allowed me to stay for a week. I can't use compulsion when so many teachers are asking my where, like, _15 page_ essays are every lecture.' Mary-Lynette couldn't help but burst into laughter at Ash's dumbfounded expression.

'I love you, Ash Redfern.' Mary-Lynette whispered passionately to him, snuggling herself into his body, and letting his woodsy scent assault her senses.

'I love you too, Mary-Lynette' Ash whispered back, kissing her hair and pulling her in even tighter to his body. After a year of travelling around, he finally found himself able to sit in peace, because he was back where he belonged.

**A/N: How was it? Good, bad, terrible? Let me know what you think!**

**Love, Anna-Cate xxx**


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